I guess the more important question is, is Video Drama still operating? 
Newsagencies donāt just sell newspapers. They also sell other items like magazines, cards, stationery, lotteries and even offer dry cleaning collection and pick up.
Outside of lotto stuff I see no reason to go there anymore. Most supermarkets these days have a range of magazines and cards as good as most newsagents.
Donāt think Iāve seen one around here that does dry cleaning but Iāve also never used a dry cleaners!
Donāt get me wrong, was a huge fan of newsagencies. Just think their market is disappearing!
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Thatās not true. They have a selection of titles but only the most popular ones in most cases.
Some supermarkets have a very limited range. One Coles near my place only has the two newspapers and about six or seven magazines. A Woolies has a big section with about thirty/forty magazines.
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SA Libraries are council run (except the State Library), Victorian libraries are mostly run by individual councils but some are run by corporations consisting of multiple neighbouring councils.
Itās true hereā¦ my local Woolies has a much bigger range than the newsagent in the same building.
Of course it depends on where you are, Iāve found these days most newsagencies have significantly downsized their papers/magazines sections and replaced them with all sorts of other things. Which is a shame cos I used to love a good newsagency.
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Might want to tell Video City in New Town not to bother opening thenā¦
I just meant in Devonport. Thereās still one in Ulverstone and half of one in Burnie I think. Weāre a bit more northern northern suburbs than New Town.
With a lot of traditional publications closing down or becoming online-only as the world continues to move into the digital age, sadly I think weāll probably see many newsagents close and others decrease in size over the next decade or so.
Lotteries sales would surely be one of the main/only things keeping many newsagents alive, so you can understand why they donāt want the big chain supermarkets & petrol stations entering that market!
And even lotteries are going onlineā¦
Iāve seen a few newsagencies dedicating more and more floorspace to things like stationery and pop culture stuff - plushies, those pop vinyl things, board games etc
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video games stores (like EB) will be next. theres a reason why they are opening more Zing stores.
they barely sell anything for the PC since steam came out, and there is a good chance the next gen consoles wonāt even have any form of physical media at all.
Even then, Zing is essentially in the same market space as newsagents with all this pop culture, shiny stuff. Amazing how much retail has changed within a generation (which Iām loosely suggesting as 20 years), hazard to think what itāll look like in another one.
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The funniest thing about that is the Newsagents Association of NSW and ACT were up in arms about operators like Lottoland depriving them of business a few years ago but the real threat to newsagents is from Tatts Group who are enticing more and more people to online betting and depriving them of foot traffic for their stores.
There seems to be a lot of newsagencies closing down around areas I frequent- Sydney and Illawarra. Iām aware of one in a major shopping centre that has been on the market for nearly five years. Not so long ago there were four just in Westfield Parramatta and now there is only one downstairs near Woolworths Metro and a small kiosk on level two.
I used to always like to browse magazine titles but seldom do it these days even though I prefer to read hard copy material like actual newspapers.
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I guess the attraction was that there were so many different titles in so many different areas of interest and you were bound to find out something new. Now all the news and information is available instantly and spreads through the internet like wildfire.
Thereās no point to peruse the newsagentās stands. Itās old news before it hits the stands.
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I used to enjoy browsing the imported US magazines in Borders. Browsing the imported Asian magazines in Kinokuniya isnāt as exciting.
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From what Iāve read, the margins are razor thin - there is a guy (whoās name escapes me now) who writes a newsagency blog, some of the stuff he posts pretty much shows that if you donāt diversify your offering you will collapse and quite quickly
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A decade ago we had five newsagencies in the suburb where I grew up. Now there are just two, one on either side of the train line, and both looks like they are on their last legs.
Sadly we also used to have two bookshops which are both now gone including one which had a fantastic second hand section out the back.
Bookshops, another venture thatās biting the dust slowly. I imagine there will always be second hand bookshops but the Big W/Kmartās of the world are killing them off.